Even though this was a road trip and I COULD have easily snuck some weights into Mr. Chicken Fry’s big ol pick up truck, I just didn’t! I let it go! In fact, didn’t pack anything workoutish except for clothes! I made a decision and gave myself permission to artificially relax! Let the vacation go and flow where it may! If the surroundings and space allowed for a creative workout then I would just make do. The primary objective was to embrace the moment, try to relax (yeah right) and laugh with my friends and family!

And I gotta tell ya…dare I say, I don’t feel cheated an ounce. Everywhere we stayed or walked it seemed to be saturated with STAIRS! Hundreds and hundred of stairs! It was humorous to an extent and almost as if I had laid out a telepathic prerequisite for FIT vacation spots.

Our first stop was Orange Beach, Alabama. My first time to this part of the Gulf coast and might I say it’s rather tempting to entertain the idea of moving to this Mayberry type of town! (More about this later) We stayed at a boutique beach house on the bay! Like most beach houses everything is built above ground. Luckily the house had an elevator that I ONLY used for my overloaded luggage…so sue me! Even the beach restaurants and local dives we hit up were all loaded with STAIRS!

The house had interior and exterior stairs built straight up! Not only was I up and down these stairs for three full days but walking up and down more stairs to the beach and restaurants. It’s as if stairs were following us. From where we stayed on the bay, the beach was a 5 minute drive. We parked and used the Perdido Beach Resort as our home base. Once you get outside of the hotel we had to walk up stairs to a bridge, over the bridge, back down stairs to the boardwalk. By now I’m just laughing because Mr. Chicken Fry is now in full comedic mode about the stairs. We were gently greeted at the boardwalk with without 10 stairs out to the beach and down 10 more stairs. Then trapes throught the sand about 50 yards to the beach chairs! But the sand, the salt water….WORTH IT!!

For the record, I don’t know how to gently walk into the ocean. Yes, I realize that I’m 44 years old however, as long as my legs can run, it’s on like donkey kong. Me and my teen queen have an absolute unspoken elbow nabbing race to the ocean. We both covertly strip off our cover ups off and start gunning it towards the water, flying flip-flops and all. This was no time to bring up the staggering / hindering flights of stairs I performed earlier in the morning as a workout. I couldn’t dare crown her “Miss First in the Ocean 2017!” ​ For all of you competitive freaks…we tied!

​​Our next visit was to a spectacular house in Sea Grove Beach, Florida. This small community butts up to Seaside. Mr. Chicken Fry arrived, took a look at the first flight of stairs and said…”they are after us, the stairs are following us ONLY this time we’re cornered.”

Have a look at an exercise addicts dream house for the next 7 days! Hello leg day all day everyday! To be clear…this is 11 straight leg day’s!!! We camped out on level two which was four flights to our bedroom and a flight away from the kitchen!

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Told ya! They aren’t playing around with they steps in Sea Grove. The house didn’t have an elevator per say…but it did have a dumb-waiter but could only accommodate 50 pounds. It should be no surprise that my suit case did NOT quality.

Our magnificent FOUR-STORY beach house was three short blocks from the entrance to the beach. (thank you to David and Wendy Haley for finding this four story gem and inviting us to join) I thought Mr. Chicken Fry was near a heart attack when he saw the 30 sum odd stairs down to the beach. He, after all, was carrying a soft Yeti cooler weighted down with ice, canned Coors Lights and a bottle of Gruet. A cold bubbly reward for all of the STAIRS was in order!

BTW – That two at a time lingo is a real thing! Take two steps at a time for a FREE-99 booty lift! I’m not even joking. If you’re not in a public place, give it a little leg lift flute squeeze at the top of each step! You’re welcome!

To even out the parade of never-ending working leg muscles, I found some creative opportunities to work my core and arms! Prepare to be amazed! The porch swing outside of our bedroom was begging for some attention. I took full advantage of this HEAVY duty beast and swung into action! Check out these short exercise videos and feel free to be a copy cat!

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​ Heel kicks

Ab tucks – feet on the swing and pull the knees in and exhale as the knees come in!

Hamstring curls

Single leg hamstring curls

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As usual I found myself using the house furniture for basic exercises such as elevated ab tucks, push ups, tricep dips and side dips. All of these exercise can be done daily in your home, office, apartment or hotel room.

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Needless to say, I didn’t hem and haul about not using actual weights over our 10 day vacation. After what seemed like I completed a cagillon rounds of bleachers a day I felt well within my leg limit!

Stay tuned later this week for a more in-depth look into our family travels encompassing an over night stay in Shreveport, Louisiana at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Hotel and Casinoand our stay in Orange Beach, Alabama and the FOOD extravaganza! Seafood and fish for days!